Hero dives to rescue

MICHELLE ROBINSON

A YOUNG exchange student had a lucky escape after slipping off the seawall at Little Shoal Bay at high tide.

Queeny Penhall and her young pomeranian Pup didn't think twice before jumping into chest-deep water to rescue an 18-year-old Korean girl.

"She was running and slipped and hit her head, she couldn't swim."

The Glenfield-based business woman jumped into the sea, clothes and all to help drag the girl out, but the wall was too slippery with algae to climb. So Ms Penhall had to drag the girl to the western end of the beach where they could climb out.

She was unable to call for help on her water-logged iPhone and no bystanders came to assist, so the two walked up Maritime Tce to the girl's host family.

"I was worried because she was quite dizzy, she kept falling as I was holding her," Ms Penhall says.

"She was embarrassed and upset.

"She kept saying `you're my angel'."

But soaking wet and "sloshing" up the hill, the women both saw the funny side.

One positive outcome from the incident was that the girl no longer fears dogs after meeting Pup. Her fear was the reason she ran along the seawall rather than the grass reserve which is popular with dog walkers.

North Shore City Council Northcote parks officer Bob Wallace says he will look to see if anything can be done to prevent others slipping.

A wooden rail along the edge of the wall offers a small amount of protection and the wall itself is sloped so there's no great drop, Mr Wallace says. But it's the first time he's heard of such an incident in the area.

It's "just one of those things" that can happen in a reserve.

Ms Penhall is modest about her heroic actions.

"Pup led the way, we didn't second guess it," she says.

"I was ready to do first aid."

- © Fairfax NZ News